Understanding the Bond
by Pagen Godess
Summary: He understood now. Now that he had his own dragon he knew what it was like to have a connection with such a powerful creature. Part 6 of the Lonely Youngling Series


**Understanding the Bond**

Stoick hummed a drinking song under his breath as he ran a wet stone along the blade of one of his favorite axes. The sun was out and the day was bright and warm. Thornado lay behind him sunning himself while Stoick leaned against the Thunderdrum's side.

The large blue dragon had been asleep for some time and Stoick felt no real need to wake his partner. It was nice to simply have the dragon's company while he took a little time to himself. Things had been peaceful on Berk for the past few weeks and it was nice to sit and do something that required little thinking. It was rare that they had long periods of peace like this when it wasn't winter.

The last bout of trouble had been bad enough but it was done and over with and while Stoick knew that in time Alvin would try something he wasn't very worried about what that something was at the moment. They'd even managed to catch a break were the dragons were concerned. Any trouble from that front had been little things that could be taken care of within a few minutes without Hiccups help. All in all things were going very well for Stoick and his Clan.

There weren't any impending attacks, the dragons were peaceful (for the most part), and both Stoick and Hiccup had been able to spend the evenings flying together. Stoick grinned a large toothy smile at the thought of sitting on Thornado's back and gliding through the air. There was nothing like sitting on the back of your partner dragon and touching the sky.

The first time that Hiccup had taken him up on Toothless Stoick had barely been able to breathe due to the feeling and he'd practically demanded to be taken up into the air as often as possible. His own attempts at flying the Night Furry hadn't been anything like what his son had been able to do when working with the dragon. Their flight around Berk had left such an impression that when it had come time to find him a dragon of his own he'd wanted nothing more than to ride his son's mount.

Stoick winced at that though because he understood now. He understood why Hiccup had been so frustrated at his insistence that he be able to ride Toothless until they found him a better dragon. He hadn't understood then but he did now.

Stoick hadn't understood the feeling of having the right dragon as a partner, all he had cared about was power and where the dragon he rode seemed to rank. Toothless had been the best out of the four more common breeds that made their homes on Berk and some small part of him had resented the fact that his son had such a grand beast while he would be stuck with a dragon type that so many others possessed. Then the Thunderdrum had appeared and the only thing he'd been able to really think of had been that it was a dragon that no one else had and that it was powerful.

So they'd captured the beast and he'd gone off to his son to learn how to train the beast. It hadn't been as easy as he'd thought it would be and if he really cared to tell the truth he hadn't put much faith in what Hiccup had told him. Oh, he'd listened to his son's instructions it had just been hard to believe that a creature as mighty as a Thunderdrum would be tamed and trained so easily.

It hadn't mattered that he'd seen his son tame other dragons the way he was being told because he'd been sure that the best way to get the dragon to work with him was to fight and fought they had. It had made sense to him that such a fighter would only truly bond during a fight and he'd been wrong to an extent. Him fighting Thornado hadn't been the way to gain the dragon's trust and respect.

No he'd discovered later that he'd needed to fight with his dragon to gain what he wanted instead of fighting against the dragon. The fight with the wild boars to protect his dragon's mate had been just what the pair of them had needed and it had been during that fight that things between them had simply clicked. It was almost like the two of them had been meant to find each other.

The feeling of knowing that he had a dragon partner had been one of the best feelings he'd ever had. It had almost seemed like he'd been missing something and hadn't even realized it until the empty place had been filled. It had taken time of course for him to understand the connection that he shared with Thornado and even know months into the bond with his dragon there were still things that would jump out and surprise him when he didn't expect it. The entire ordeal with the Dragon Flowers had been one of those moments.

He'd only had Thornado for a short amount of time then but seeing the mighty dragon so sick had cut him deeper that any blade he'd ever faced. The feeling of wrong that had screamed through his veins at the sight of the Thunderdrum grounded and weak had shaken him to his very core. His thoughts had drifted to Hiccup at that moment and the lad's battle with the Red Death. Stoick could still remember how still Hiccup had been while he was sleeping. He'd thought that nothing could compare to seeing his son in such dire condition but he'd been wrong about that as well.

The bond between human and dragon was a gift from the very Gods themselves and Stoick new better than to take something like that for granted. The bond he shared with Thornado was special in its own way just like Astrid's and Stormfly's or Snotlout's and Hookfang's bond. While it wasn't anything compared to what Hiccup shared with Toothless, or any dragon for that matter, it was still his bond and he would treasure it for as long as he lived.

Stoick ran his finger along the edge of his axe before nodding in satisfaction and standing up. The muscles in his arms bulged as he stretched and he yawned. Thornado let out a grunt from behind him and Stoick smiled as the dragon nudged his back causing him to rock forward ever so slightly. Turning Stoick placed a single had on his dragon's scaly head and grinned.

"What do you say to going on a trip around the island?" Stoick asked. Thornado shook out his wings and roared his agreement. The roar's echo was followed soon after by Stoick's booming laugh.

OOOOOO

Is it just me or are these things slowly getting shorter and shorter? No, I'm pretty sure that they're getting shorter. Though to be fair this one may be so short because it's a bit of a repeat. Eh. Ok guys that it for now. All done with this for the moment. And before you ask no I'm not sure if this is the last one or not. It is however the last one for now because I have a lovely list of things to work on. Serously go an look at my long to do list on my profile page. I'm working on a lot.

Ok let me know what you guys think.

Happy Reading,

Pagen


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